E3 Aliens Colonial Marine Demo Previews

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

After standing in line for an hour waiting for opening day at this year's E3 I immediately made a beeline line for the SEGA Booth and the ALIENS: Colonial Marines Demo.

No video or recording of ANY kind was allowed.
Randy Pitchford -President of Gearbox- made sure it was known one the their own people was utilizing NIGHT VISION as a deterrent.

I was shocked to see Randy personally presenting the demo, but after listening to him and see his giddy enthusiasm, there was no denying his love of all things ALIENS and his exuberance was intoxicating and refreshing.

The game utilizes an an ALL new proprietary graphics engine with Real-Time dynamic lighting. Meaning the lighting was not, as traditionally done, baked in (i.e. artificial or faked into the textures).
This was in great effect during firefights as you saw the ALIENS naturally lit up by the glow of Pulse Rifle muzzle flashes and explosions.
And the Marines shoulder mounted light also cast realistic soft lighting on the Marines faces and the enviro.
Lens flares were in use, but played naturally and appropriately with the light sources.
The ALIENS movements and animation were A.I. driven (ala Left4Dead) and not scripted for infinitely more tense and dynamic firefights.
Meaning no firefight would ever be the same, giving value to replay that much more fun.
There are scripted moments, to be sure, to propel the story. But, they are far and few between and sometimes even in the background.

The audio presentation was spot on with sound samples of motion trackers, pulse rifles, wind, water drips and overall environment ambiance nailed perfectly.
And best of all the ALIENS sound and look like they were lifted right off the screen. Their screams and cries after getting shot were pitch perfect.

The graphics, to paraphrase Randy Pitchford, were amazing and the best I've seen of any ALIEN game to date.
Minor quibbles include the lack of motion blur on fast moving objects, aliasing of sharp/straight edges and the occasional graphics pop up.

The demo began with U.S.S. SULACO still orbiting LV-426 and another starship arriving (the name stenciled on the side was SEPHORA).
Next began the sequence of the Marines on the SEPHORA waking up from hypersleep (ala ALIENS) and a series of quickly accelerating cuts showing firefights and the Marines crash landing onto LV-426.
The remaining Marines regroup and head toward the now decimated remains of Hadley's Hope.
**NOTE: I do have have concern that visually the Colony looked pretty damn good considering a Thermonuclear Meltdown had occurred and also what are the resultant RAD amounts still lingering?**
Here we witness the Marines working their way toward Operations (similar to ALIENS). Making sweeps through now familiar areas like Medical with Facehugger specimens still in stasis.
Once they reach Operations they are quickly attacked by multiple ALIENS. The main player used a shotgun to great effect for most of this fight.
The versatility and speed of the ALIENS was highlighted here as they breached the room from various points of entry including the floor and ceiling.
One fantastic moment involved an ALIEN jumping the player, both tumbling out the broken second level window onto the ground below,
and with the ALIEN attempting to impale him with the infamous 2nd jaw the player is able to strike it back once with the shotgun then immediately blow a hole in it's head.
Easily the highlight as it showed the impeccable texture detail and animation employed by the artists at Gearbox to perfectly nail the signature look of the ALIENS.
With the ALIEN now dead a new threat loomed.... The Crusher (not crazy about the nick name).
A "new" species of ALIEN... one that can only be described as almost Rhino in nature with a massive sweeping skull similar to the Queen's.
On all fours, squat and bulky but, extremely fast as it pulverized several not so lucky Marines as the player and another NPC made their way back to safe haven in Hadley's Hope.
This is where a "Last Stand" scenario played out as the Marines reloaded and were given access to Sentry Guns and the M-41A Pulse Rifle.
4 Player Dynamic (anytime drop in or out) Co-Op was also on demonstration as one player was tasked with setting up the Sentry Gun in the area below while another took position awaiting the onslaught.
Unintentional comedy ensued as the player trying to setup the Sentry Gun failed (numerous times) to do so before the attack.
During the 2nd Demo it played out as it should and the Sentry Gun helped pulverize a good number of ALIENS.
Another great moment involved a ALIEN snatching a Marine thru a wall grate. It was hard to determine how scripted these events are... could you save them if you act fast enough? I sincerely hope so and smell Achievement for doing so!!
An innumerable amount of ALIENS poured in from all areas of the massive enclosure and the room was soon bathed in the iconic 'ALIENS' red light. Gunfire and the blood curdling screams of doomed Marines as well as the shrieks of fallen ALIENS drowned out any attempts of communication. The remaining Marines retreated to a much larger area with 2 Power Loaders getting retro-fitted with flame throwers as the ALIENS once again breach the room en masse. The main player held his ground with Pulse Rifle and Grenade rounds to good effect until the climatic entrance of The Queen!
She rips one Marine apart with ease and copious gore and makes her way to the main player, grabs him and thrusts him to her maw as the the screen cuts to black on her gaping jaw and the sound of organs bursting and bone crunching.

Randy Pitchford and the creative folks at Gearbox with this Demo have managed to do something no one else has... create not only an incredible and extremely faithful ALIENS game, but also a proper and unique "sequel" to ALIENS itself. Randy was quick to mention that this game does not alter the canon established in ALIENS or ALIEN3. Rather answer any/some questions left at the end of ALIENS. e.g. what happened to Hudson and Burke (odd note concerning Burke as the deleted scene clearly document his demise)?

This along with questions concerning the actual time line - I've heard and read various ideas of 3 months after the end of ALIENS, to after the end of ALIEN3, etc. All I know is when the Marines arrive the Sulaco is still in orbit.

Gearbox has also gone on to clarify that the game is broken into 3 ACTS:
Act 1. On the Sulaco,
Act 2. Hadley's Hope,
Act 3. Derelict Spaceship from 'ALIEN' and 'ALIENS: DC' - This personally I CANNOT wait to see more of!!!